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Aprilia dump Fabrizio and sign Torres

Michel Fabrizio has said goodbye to any hopes of returning to the world championship with Aprilia, as the 31-year-old from Rome’s place has been taken by 27-year-old Jordi Torres, who comes from Moto2. The Spaniard will be team-mate to Britain’s Leon Haslam, 31 years of age. Fabrizio, who won four WSBK races on the factory Ducati, tested the RSV4 last week at Jerez, setting some good times despite not stepping on a Superbike for six months. But now the Noale manufacturer has opted to go for the Spanish rookie, who had already reached a deal with Kawasaki Go Eleven. Michel had been hoping to return to the top but he has now been shown the door. I’m not commenting on the decision, but the way it was done: if they were not convinced, why on earth get him to test the bike?

Jordi Torres, 27 years old from Spain

SENSELESS TEST – Head of Aprilia’s racing activities, Romano Albesiano, had been clear right from the start: “For Fabrizio the two days at Jerez are just to see how he goes, we’ll let him test and then we will make a decision.” I was sure they were trying to throw me off the track and that an agreement with Michel had already been reached. I was wrong. It is difficult to believe in the official version, for several reasons: 1. Even though it will be given to a satellite team, the RSV4 is still a factory bike, and manufacturers are usually reluctant to let them be raced by riders who are not already under contract. Even more so this time, because Aprilia took the 2015-spec engines, which have different pistons, con-rods and electronics than the previous versions, to Spain. At this point Michel could go to the opposition and explain how the bike goes in detail… 2. OK, modern-day bikes with all the electronics allow the engineers to gather information on a variety of parameters – reaction times, braking, cornering speed. But one day and a half is not really enough time to understand how well a rider who hasn’t ridden a Superbike since May is going. For this reason giving Fabrizio just a ‘test’ seemed to be bizarre. 3. Fabrizio didn’t lap all that bad either: 1’41.384, compared with a 1’40.865 for Haslam who in turn was just one-tenth slower than his fellow Brit Alex Lowes, who set the quickest time in the test, 1’40.730. Michel lapped just six-tenths off the record, not a bad result considering that he hasn’t been active for some time.

Aprilia SBK with Fabrizio at Jerez: they will now have to redo the official photo…

SLIGHT FOR THE TV – Michel Fabrizio is now without a ride but he will try to take the place of Torres in Kawasaki Go Eleven. They are a serious and ambitious team but are entering Superbike for the first time after years of learning the ropes in the minor series. If an agreement is reached (it remains to be seen), it will be completely different to being on a factory Aprilia in the world championship. For three years Fabrizio was a factory Ducati rider and has a certain fame, so seeing him on such a prestigious bike would be important for Italia 1, which will broadcast the 2015 championship live. The network put pressure on Aprilia to leave Marco Melandri in Superbike instead of taking him to MotoGP, then was interested in the talks between Noale and Michele Pirro who opted to remain in Ducati as MotoGP tester. Fabrizio would also have gone down well as a TV-friendly character, but not even this is now possible. At the moment five Italians are confirmed in the entry-list, but only Davide Giugliano (Ducati) has the bike and the conditions to win. That’s not very much on the plate, considering that Italia 1 is the most important, for audience and prestige, of all the TV companies that broadcast World Superbike around the world.

Michel Fabrizio during the tests at Jerez, on 24-25 November.

SPAIN RULES – Spain will now have four representatives in the championship, but two will be on Italian factory machines: Nico Terol, the 2011 champion on an Althea satellite Ducati but with the same treatment as Giugliano and Davies in the internal team, and now Torres with the Aprilia. Jordi grew up in the domestic Supersport championship and made his Moto2 debut in 2010. His best season was 2013, with 3 podiums, one win in the German GP at Sachsenring and tenth place overall. This year he finished in sixteenth place, paying the price for the Suter’s scarce competitiveness. He was in Team Martinez, one of the richest and most prestigious in the entire world championship. Clearly a chosen one…